Of my five days in Milan, I decided to set aside a day to make a day trip to Cinque Terre - a coast line area filled with five villages and breathtaking views. To make the most of our day and see as much as we could, we left at 6 in the morning for our train and returned back for our commute to Milan at night around 7 in the evening. Here's the exact route we took:

6:00 - Leave Milan for La Spezia via train

9:00-11:00 - Explore La Spezia

11:00 - Leave for Manarola via train

11:20 - 3:00 - Explore Manarola

3:00 - Leave for Riomaggiore via train

3:20-7:00 - Explore Riomaggiore + watch the sunset

7:00-11:00 - Commute back to Milan

We visited 2 of the 5 villages on the coast: Manarola, and Riomaggiore which I think are the most popular. La Spezia is another city with an amazing dock and mountain views. See it for yourself and scroll for more.